


I'll Wait for You

by Sweetpeaasylum



Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, British Actor RPF - Freeform, Loki really loves Tom, M/M, RPF, Reincarnation, lots of love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-13
Updated: 2014-03-13
Packaged: 2018-01-14 04:29:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1252915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweetpeaasylum/pseuds/Sweetpeaasylum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki had never expected to fall in love after Sigyn, but a mortal - of all things - finally made him realise that he could love again. But as he grows older, Loki grows frantic to find a way to make Tom immortal, but when one of Idunn's apples doesn't help slowing his aging, but merely makes him immune to disease, he decides to let Tom live out his life and starts trying to devise a way to bring him back after death as an immortal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Wait for You

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Marvel comics (or any characters mentioned).

There was nothing that Loki wouldn’t do for Thomas. He was leery of the mortal at first, but when he showed up wounded in the man’s apartment after a rather nasty fight with Thor, he didn’t have much of a choice but to teleport somewhere. Which ended up being right in the middle of Thomas’ bathroom while he was taking a bath, in fact. Loki still loves to tell Tom how much he wanted to laugh at the face the man made when he saw the god appear on the tile floor and they both laugh every time he tells the story. Even nearly forty years later.

Tom was thirty-nine when Loki started noticing that he was ageing and the actor had noticed it a few years before, but didn’t make any mention of it. Perhaps, Loki thinks, if they had known earlier, if they’d had more time, they could have come up with a solution.

“Tom, please,” Loki pleaded, offering him the bright golden apple, “I-I don’t know what I’d do without you,” his voice broke as he said the words. Even now, when Tom was fifty-two, he was still beautiful. Older, but still just as perfect as when he’d met him, even if he wasn’t quite as able to be energetic as he was before.

The man had sighed and offered Loki a slightly crinkled-at-the-edges smile, pressing their foreheads together. He didn’t want to be an immortal at this age, not if his body felt like it aged a year every month (even if he knew that it wouldn’t). To be honest, he was self conscious. He could almost pass for Loki’s father or something with the way he looked in comparison to the ever-youthful god of fire and mischief. He knew that if he was taken back to Asgard with him, it wouldn’t be commented upon, but he still couldn’t help but feel like he would be reminded every day of how old his body was compared to Loki (not to mention that he already was needing medications to help in the bedroom on occasion). “Alright,” he answered sadly after a long pause, kissing Loki’s cheek gingerly and taking the warm, golden apple from his hand.

Loki looked just as eager as a child might upon seeing their parents opening a wrapped gift they’d made by hand for them as Tom took the apple in one thin hand. He didn’t know what to expect, so before either of them could say anything else, Tom bit into the apple, feeling the warmth flooding through him and he shuddered slightly, wincing. It began to hurt with each bite, like he was on fire. He nearly whimpered as he ate the last bite, his hands trembling. Loki took the core from his hand and set it aside, cradling the man in his arms.

“Shh, don’t worry,” he chided softly, trying to be reassuring, even though he, himself was terrified. He hadn’t known of many mortals receiving one of Idunn’s apples, but he hadn’t ever heard of it hurting them. “It’ll be over soon,” he whispered, kissing the top of Tom’s head. He knew at least something would come of it, since he finished the entire apple, but he didn’t know exactly what would happen.

When the pain slowly faded, Tom lay curled in Loki’s arms, exhausted and breathing shallowly. It had taken an hour for his fever to start going down after that, and Loki laid beside him in their bed, stroking his hair and murmuring softly to him while he slept. “I love you, Thomas,” he would say every twenty minutes or so, “I love you more than anything, and if this doesn’t work, I will find a way that we can be together forever.”

Tom fell asleep listening to the soft purr of Loki’s voice, his body going slack. When Loki knew Tom was asleep, he bit his lip hard, a bead of blood forming, but he couldn’t stop himself from crying. He could sense that the magic hadn’t taken effect fully, something had gone wrong and he thought it wasn’t likely that Tom would be immortal when he woke. Had he wanted to be? If he hadn’t, that was likely why it didn’t work, but he wouldn’t press him on the issue.

When Tom woke, Loki told him of what he thought and they both were silent for a long time before the blond finally swallowed, “Is there a way to test it,” he asked softly.

Loki nodded, his head only just moving, he didn’t want to know, to be honest. He didn’t want to confirm the fact that Tom would die and he would go on living. After Loki sent a faint wave of magic through Tom’s body like a radar, they both were silent, Loki’s fallen expression enough to tell Tom that it hadn’t worked.

It was for Tom’s next birthday that Loki had given him a potion to stop the ageing process, but he hadn’t tested it on a human yet, so he wasn’t quite sure what to expect with it. But when nothing happened for a long moment, Loki gave up on that, scratching it off the list of things to try. The next morning, though, Tom didn’t wake. Loki began to panic when the antique grandfather clock chimed happily ten times, then an hour later eleven, and after that twelve. The hours passed and Loki grew more frantic, alternating between grieving and trying to wake Thomas. He couldn’t die like this. Not now. They still had time left didn’t they? They had to.

When Tom woke again, his memory was fuzzy and he had been unconscious for four days. Loki hadn’t slept for any of them and had only just succumbed to leaden, heavy sleep hours before his husband woke. It was one in the afternoon and Tom was shocked to see the time and to find Loki still sleeping. Contrary to what one might think of a mischief maker, he was usually quite the morning person with Tom, both of them getting up usually at seven or eight and going for a walk. “Loki,” he asked softly, turning over and touching Loki’s cheek.

The god’s eyes snapped open and he at first didn’t think that Tom was actually awake, believing this all to be a dream. When the blond reassured him that he couldn’t possibly be dreaming at one in the afternoon, Loki broke down in tears, clinging tightly to him and apologising over and over. Tom, of course was completely confused by the apologies and hushed Loki, rubbing his back and stroking his hair in the way that usually calmed him, but it didn’t work for nearly a half hour, when Loki finally was steady enough to tell Tom what had happened.

Both of them agreed after then that testing potions on him was a bad idea, leaving Loki no other choices but to test his theories on magically formed clones of Tom, genetically and physically identical to him in every way. Though the clones didn’t have Tom’s memories and were totally blank slates, Loki still felt a pang of guilt every time one of them would be injured, adversely affected, or worst of all, die. Each body was then carefully reverted back into pure energy, much like a soul, but not quite the same. He would keep the energy in a large jar that glowed bright, shimmering turquoise with flecks of gold, thinking that if the worst did happen and Tom died, the similar energy could make it easier on him. Though of course he knew nothing could replace the wonderful mortal, not even Sigyn could have, if she returned to him. He couldn’t ask for more than Thomas.

Two years later, Loki had unexpectedly become pregnant, much to both of their surprises, and Tom cried when Loki told him, knowing that he might not get to see their baby grow up. He was fifty-five. He would almost be old enough to be the child’s grandfather by the time it was born. And what would become of it, would it be mortal like Tom and die of old age or would it be immortal like Loki and easily outlive him (which it would do anyways).

Tom was near inconsolable for about a month after, and when Loki’s belly had started to grow rounder and rounder, he felt the gravity of the situation. He couldn’t leave Loki alone to raise their baby. How could he have been so selfish as to not want to be immortal because of how he looked three years ago? He knew that he wouldn’t die of illness, seeing as Loki found out that the apple did give him that benefit, but that didn’t mean that his heart couldn’t give out or an accident couldn’t happen.

The pregnancy lasted slightly longer than a mortal one and Loki’s belly grew rounder and rounder with each passing week until he hit the eleven month mark and he was so round that Tom thought he’d burst. Loki had been seeing a midwife until this point, shifting his body into a womanly form when they would have an appointment. Otherwise, when they would go out into public, he would cast a glamour that would make him look a bit older than he was, but still younger than Tom; everyone thought that the woman was Tom’s daughter or something. No one questioned it, considering that everyone knew that Tom was married to another man who tended to keep to himself much of the time, only making appearances in public when it was necessary (or when Tom would want to go somewhere).

Just before dinner on May twenty-seventh, Loki groaned from his place on the couch, his swollen abdomen aching horribly, and when he stood to shuffle to the bathroom, he felt a sudden wetness rush from between his legs and his eyes widened when he realised his water had broken. “Thomas,” he called, his voice slipping into a higher tone as his body shifted into that of his female form.

Tom instantly called the midwife they were seeing and rushed Loki to her small home clinic nearby; when they arrived, Loki was instantly brought to a small pool of warm water and the midwife slipped in with him, telling him to breathe. The god almost laughed. He’d given birth to three of his six children and though he wanted to forego midwives and hospitals all together, Tom had insisted on at least a midwife.

The labour had taken nearly two hours before the baby started crowning and Tom squeezed Loki’s hand, “You’re doing amazingly, Love,” he murmured as Loki cried out, pushing hard and sending the baby the rest of the way through with two more hard pushes. He nearly reverted to his male form with his exhaustion, but Tom gently rubbed his shoulders, keeping him awake as the midwife prepared to cut the umbilical cord. Tom was crying as he cut it, allowing the midwife to clean their little baby. Moments later, “It’s a girl,” the woman announced, grinning at the couple and handing her off to them. He was hugging Loki tightly when he was handed the baby, cradling her against his breasts as the large infant began to calm slightly, as if knowing that this was her mother and father. “Loki, she’s so beautiful,” he murmured, sniffling as he rested his head on the god’s shoulder, his arms wrapped around the other two thirds of his family.

They eventually settled upon the name Eydís Muirenn Tomsdóttir and when it was written out on her birth certificate, Tom kissed Loki deeply, cradling Eydís close to his chest and rocking her gently. She grew more quickly than a human child, Tom noted, when she was already walking and talking after just under a year, her first tottering steps happening when they’d both expected her to crawl. By the age of three, she was acting like any ordinary kindergartener would and both Loki and Tom agreed to send her up a grade, claiming that she must have been a genius even though they both knew that it was because she was partly Jötunn, which was a clear indication that she wasn’t mortal either. That much brought at least some relief to Tom. Though as the years passed and Eydís grew faster and faster, skipping a grade almost every other year, so that she was in the fifth grade at age eight.

Tom was playing with her in the basement of their house, which served as Eydís’ playroom for the most part, and she grinned at him before getting up and darting off up the stairs, “Come get me, Da,” she called, giggling excitedly as she scrambled up the stairs, her small legs carrying her quickly up and out of Tom’s reach while her curly dark hair bounced behind her.

He gave an exasperated laugh, and rolled his eyes, pulling himself up with the railing of the stairs. At sixty-five, he was having difficulty keeping up with Eydís while Loki would do the grocery shopping for them.

The god was just getting home, carrying a multitude of bags and shedding his glamour as he set them all down. “Momma,” Eydís cried excitedly, immediately running to him, thoughts of her little impromptu game with Tom forgotten. Loki grinned and scooped her up into his arms, spinning them around before rubbing their noses together playfully, “Well hello there, how have you and Da been doing, are you having fun?”

Before she could answer, Loki heard a crash and then Tom cried out from the basement. His eyes widened and he felt his chest clench tightly as he put his daughter on her feet and teleported himself to the bottom of the stairs, where Tom lay on the floor, gritting his teeth and panting, “L-Lo… I think I’ve broken something, I need to get to the hospital,” he gasped, his hand pressing into his hip. “I missed a step when I was going up.” Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes as Loki stood, looking horrified as he nodded, a phone appearing in his hand and he called for an ambulance, knowing that Tom would refuse if he offered to use magic.

The ambulance arrived in only a few minutes, and in that time Eydís had crept down the stairs, her eyes glassy with tears as she saw that her father was hurt. “Da,” she asked quietly, hopping down the last step as Loki let the paramedics in with a stretcher to carry Tom out.

“Yes, baby girl,” he asked softly, trying not to let her see how much pain he was actually in; thankfully endorphins had kicked in and had taken a slight edge off, but he still didn’t want to risk moving his left leg.

“Are you okay, Da,” she asked quietly, stepping back for the men to carefully lift Tom off of the floor gingerly, and he bit his lip to keep from crying out.

“Da is going to be alright, Love,” Loki murmured, quickly picking Eydís up into his arms and carrying her outside and then into the ambulance. Tom was more important than anything and he could hardly think about putting up his glamours as he sat on one of the benches along the wall with his daughter in his lap while the paramedics began working to make sure that Tom was safe.

They arrived in the emergency room without incident and Tom was quickly sent in for x-rays while Loki and Eydís waited in the comfortable sized room and filled out insurance paperwork for the visit. Tom was returned a few moments later, followed by a doctor about a half hour after that, who brought a laptop to show them a fracture in Tom’s left hip. The doctor told them that Tom would have to be operated on in order to repair the fracture and Loki said that he would speak with him on it, but of course, when he asked, Tom still denied Loki ‘wasting his magic’ on something that could be fixed easily enough here.

After the ordeal of the surgery was over the next morning, Tom woke groggily to Eydís curled up in the bed beside him, having fallen asleep, and Loki just beside them in a chair, his hand holding Tom’s as he waited for the two to wake. Tom managed a faint smile at Loki and sighed, “Morning, Love,” he mumbled, his words somewhat slurred from the remaining anaesthesia in his body.

Loki perked up when he saw Tom waking and squeezed his hand gently, “Hello, Tom,” he murmured softly, his eyes rimmed with pink as though he’d been crying for a little while beforehand. He wiped at them with his free hand and offered a little smile, “How do you feel?”

Tom hummed softly, wanting to shift, but he couldn’t, knowing that he would probably feel the pain if he did, “Like I broke my hip,” he chuckled softly, the movement of his chest rousing the little girl curled beside him.

She opened her eyes and smiled brightly when she saw Tom was awake, “Da,” she exclaimed, kissing his cheek, “Are you okay? Momma and I bought you something,” she added with a wide grin, looking back to Loki, who handed her a little bag from the hospital gift store.

Tom scoffed and took the bag, wincing as the IV in his hand shifted under his skin when he opened it, “Oh you two didn’t have to get me anything,” he murmured. She reached into the bag to pull out a fluffy, little stuffed cat with a heart for a nose and a tag that read, “Get well soon!”

“Thank you so much,” he sniffed as he felt his throat heat and tears prick at the corners of his eyes. “She’s so cute,” he gingerly wrapped his non-entangled arm around Eydís and the little cat, kissing her cheek when she leaned in close.

“I picked her out,” she announced, kissing Tom’s cheek back, then Loki lifted her off of the bed and onto his lap, smiling as she bounced a little, turning to hug him. “Da will get better soon, right, Momma?”

“Of course he will,” he murmured, hugging her tightly, “but we need to let Da rest so that the doctors will send him home soon,” he smiled and pressed their foreheads together. The next week and a half of Tom’s recovery passed much the same, Loki and Eydís both visiting when she wasn’t in school and when Loki didn’t have to pick her up. Neither of them left the hospital otherwise, staying with Tom because Loki had explained to her that he would eventually have to go away for a little while, so they would have to be with him all that they can.

It was Frigga who visited them when word from Asgard finally travelled to Loki; he had sent her letters and messages with his magic asking her for anything that she could possibly tell him about making Tom immortal. She stepped into Tom’s hospital room at about eight pm, when the three were playing a card game, and Loki started when he saw her, blinking quickly, as if the image was just an illusion. “Mother?”

Frigga smiled warmly at the three and stepped closer, shutting the door behind her with a wave of her hand and she gently cupped Loki’s cheek, “Yes, it is I, my son,” she murmured, leaning down to hug him tightly and introduce herself to both Tom and Eydís. When introductions were finished, she sighed, pressing her lips together before procuring a small, wooden box, shaped much like a square jewellery box, which she handed to Loki. “This is for you and Thomas,” she stated in a tone that suggested that it was more than just a box and before Loki could move to open it, she gently rested a hand upon the lid, “Open it when you have both returned home, you still have time left,” she murmured reassuringly.

Loki understood her meaning and nodded slightly, biting his lip, “Thank you so much, Mother,” he managed, his voice cracking, “I didn’t think… I didn’t think there would be a way.”

“There is always a way, Loki, you of all people should know that,” she chided, leaning down to kiss Loki’s forehead, then Eydís’ and Tom’s, leaning down to Tom’s ear and whispering, “You will heal quickly, Loki takes good care of the ill, which some find surprising,” she chuckled softly then and winked at him. The goddess stood up straighter and smiled a little at the three, “I must be off before my absence is noticed, but I trust that I will see you three again soon.”

Frigga was gone as quickly as she’d come, leaving only the etched wooden box that Loki clutched in his hands as though it was a life line. He knew that his mother could see the future, so he trusted that this would work. It had to.

Tom’s recovery after that visit was, indeed quick, and before long, he was able to be enrolled in a physical therapy regimen and was walking – slowly at first – within another month. He continued healing, the speed aided by the magic still inside of him from Idunn’s apple, and soon enough, he was able to end his therapy, occasionally using a cane when the pain would flare, but thankfully, that wasn’t often and he could easily work through it or rest if need be.

Before long, Tom’s seventieth birthday was only days away and he found Loki staring at the little wooden box that Frigga had given them a few years before when he woke. “What is it, Love,” he asked softly, resting a hand on Loki’s shoulder. It was a Saturday morning and Eydís was sleeping in, giving Tom and Loki time together, which neither would waste. By this point, Tom was walking with a cane almost all the time and Loki had to help him with most tasks; they both knew that they were running out of time, so neither would waste any that could have been spent together.

Loki flinched a bit when Tom spoke, having not expected him to be awake so early, and he smiled faintly, “I’m just thinking about what I will do while we are apart,” he murmured, leaning over and kissing Tom’s forehead.

Tom sighed, reaching over and resting his hand on Loki’s and giving a gentle squeeze, “Well, we know that from what she wrote that you will be able to keep my soul safe in the vial, all we need is a body,” he murmured. “You know that you can make one for me, the only thing is that we will need another of Idunn’s apples… I know it didn’t work last time,” he trailed off, still feeling the guilt that had weighed upon him for years.

Loki knew that Tom hadn’t wanted immortality when he had eaten the apple. He never told Tom, but he knew. “Do you think that will work,” he asked, his voice cracking as he spoke.

“I know that it will,” he murmured, sighing and carefully lifting himself to a sitting position and then moving close to hug Loki. “And I know that you and Eydís will be able to bring me back… I want the first thing I eat to be that apple when I wake up.”

The god smiled sadly and nodded slightly, he hated this. He hated that he had to watch the one he loved more than anything die before his eyes and he could do nothing about it. Even though he knew that he would come back, he couldn’t bring himself to not be upset. What if it didn’t work? What if he would never see Tom again?

It was a Wednesday morning when Loki felt something off about the air when he woke up. Eydís had already left for one of her last few days of high school and Loki woke at sometime around eight. He turned over to look at Tom and frowned slightly when he didn’t see any movement in his chest, “Tom,” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

No answer.

“Tom,” he reached over to give his body a little shake. Nothing. “No… no, Tom,” he cried, feeling his chest clench and his throat burn, “no, no, no, please Tom, please wake up. I can’t lose you like this.” He knew that the soul only remained near the body for a few hours at most before drifting to the crossroads. Tom’s life was fulfilled, he had no reason to return again, so he would likely go to Hel instead of being reborn and Loki knew that there was no getting him back if that happened.

Tom’s body was still limp and faintly warm, so he couldn’t have been gone for long. The god fumbled for the wooden jewellery box, sliding the lid open when he managed to bring it up into his lap, his hands shaking as he took the small, glass vial out, setting it on the duvet. Then he reached for a second vial, which contained a faintly golden potion that would allow Loki to more easily locate and coax Tom’s soul to where it needed to go.

He drank it without hesitation, feeling a warmth spreading through him and when he opened his eyes and blinked a few times, the light had dulled except for a faintly turquoise aura just in front of him. He felt the prick of tears and managed a little smile, “Tom?”

The blue brightened slightly and Loki managed a faint smile, as he drew it into the little pendant. It wasn’t long before he managed to fit the small cork into the top of the vial, cradling it in his hands as it glowed brightly, even feeling a little warm. The energy released from the copies had never been warm like this, Loki knew. That was the difference between one of those bodies and Tom; they were unfeeling and apathetic with no personality yet. Sure they could be trained, but Loki knew that it was difficult.

He gingerly lifted the thin gold chain around his head, keeping the vial securely around his neck, and quickly hurried out of bed. He would have to get Eydís from school to bring them to Asgard, because he wouldn’t risk bringing Tom back here, even if he knew that no one would notice until Tom went out in public or something.

It was about an hour before Loki and Eydís were ready to leave, Loki having covered Tom’s body with a sheet and fighting himself to not cry. He couldn’t help but be anxious. He needed this to work; he didn’t know how in Hel’s name he would be able to raise Eydís alone, even if she was almost fully grown and taller than both of them. Thankfully she remained under seven feet, but it seemed that she was more Jötunn than either parent had thought and Loki had to find a way to keep a glamour cast over her while she was outside, to cover her faintly bluish skin and small horn nubs that would grow as she did.

She was more mature for her age than anyone in her schools that she was sent off to and now was no different. “Momma,” she murmured, having found Loki standing at the bedside and staring down at the body covered by a thin white sheet. She stepped around the bed and hugged Loki tightly, kissing his cheek, “We’ll get Da back,” she said after a long moment, resting her head atop Loki’s and closing her eyes. “Let’s just get to Asgard, okay?”

Loki nodded after a long moment, hugging his daughter tightly, “Yes, I think that would be best,” he mumbled, sniffing and wiping at his eyes as he pulled away slightly, “Is everything you need to take ready to go?” Neither one of them commented on Tom’s things that both of them had packed, but she nodded. “Let’s go then,” he said with a long sigh, brushing another tear from his cheek.

It had taken only a second to return to Asgard, as Loki simply teleported them there, though he used a great deal of energy to do so. He knew that he would be able to conjure a body for Tom, but that wasn’t what he was worried about. He already owed Idunn one favour and he didn’t know what would happen if he asked for another of her apples.

“Da,” Eydís interrupted his thoughts and Loki looked up, noting that nothing in his chambers had changed since he left a few decades ago. “I’ll go to Idunn,” she said after a long moment, “I will tell her that it’s for me.”

Loki frowned deeply, but gave a long sigh, not in the mood to argue. Jötunar were relatively immortal anyways, which was why he didn’t ever need an apple for himself, only for Tom, but they did help in preventing illnesses. After a long silence, Loki nodded slightly, “Thank you,” he mumbled, hugging his daughter tightly. “I will work on making a body for him… You can ask someone where the grove is if you don’t remember where I told you before,” he added, smiling faintly at her.

“Yes, I remember,” she answered, squeezing Loki’s shoulder, “I will be back, and I’m sure everything will be perfect.”

Loki managed a little nod as Eydís stepped out of the room and then set to work on making the body using the energy he’d stored from the others. Tom’s aura inside the pendant glowed somewhat more dimly now that Frigga’s potion had worn off, but he could still feel the gentle warmth radiating over his collarbones. He bit his lip and gently stroked a finger down the little glass vial before using the energy to start making a body.

This one took a bit longer to make than the copies, because Loki had to go off of memory to make a copy of Tom as a younger man and the memory of the energy that had once been him, since Tom wasn’t here. It took about a half hour for Loki to get every detail as it had been when they'd first met and in that time, someone must’ve noticed Loki’s presence somehow and before Loki could completely finish the process of making Tom’s body, Thor burst into the room, “Loki,” he bellowed angrily, stomping through the sitting room and the study, then into Loki’s bedroom.

When Thor entered, he found Loki in the process of making a body, a well-formed aura already in place on the bed in Tom’s exact image with the body itself just beginning to form. But when he looked from the body to Loki, his jaw clenched. He’d never seen the trickster look so absolutely _vulnerable_. “Loki,” he stated again more softly this time and sounding slightly like a question.

“ _Please_ , Thor,” Loki stammered, “Please don’t hurt him. Let me bring him back… then-then you can do whatever you want with me.”

The words settled into Thor’s mind like heavy stones. Loki putting anyone else before himself was unheard of and despite the fact that he’d known Loki fell in love in Midgard, he didn’t think that it was anything more than a tryst.

“Don’t hurt our daughter,” Loki managed, his voice cracking slightly as his eyes began to well with tears, “Please don’t hurt them, I’m begging you.” He closed his eyes for a long moment and turned back to quickly finish forming Tom’s new body, sensing that Thor didn’t seem to want to interrupt him.

It was only a few moments more before the covers and mattress dipped under the weight of the empty body that settled on top of them and Loki felt his chest clench as he watched the chest slowly begin to rise and fall as though Tom were sleeping. He had made certain to make it a blank slate with only the basest physical needs so that the soul wouldn’t have any difficulty acclimating. Without hesitating any longer, the god gingerly removed the necklace and bit his lip hard as he removed the cork from the vial over the mouth of the body before settling the opening between Tom’s lips.

When he looked back over his shoulder as the blue aura disappeared from behind the glass, Thor was nowhere to be found. He was a bit shocked that he hadn’t even heard him leave, but he would be back more than likely with guards. He would have to enjoy any time he could spend with Tom while they were alone when he woke, but that wasn’t something that Loki hadn’t gotten used to while Tom had been alive before.

The god waited in apprehensive silence for a few long minutes before Tom’s breathing hitched slightly and the heartbeat quickened in the body. He carefully lifted the hand that was closest to him on the bed and felt a slight warmth in it before the muscles twitched, the long fingers tightening faintly before going slack again. “Tom,” his voice was barely audible, but he felt the hand tighten around his again.

It took a moment before there was another answer, “Do you remember when we met,” Tom’s lips barely moved and his voice was a bit hoarse, but it was enough to start Loki crying again.

“Of course I do, Tom, how could I forget,” he tried to calm himself, but he squeezed the hand tightly and Tom squeezed back as he rested his forehead against their entwined fingers. “I can’t believe this worked,” he managed to get out, shaking his head slightly, “I love you so much.”

“Love you too,” Tom mumbled, the corners of his mouth turning upwards in a weak smile. Before either of them could say anything more, the door to Loki’s bedroom opened again and Idunn stepped inside with Eydís following closely behind.

Loki blanched at the sight of the goddess, but she smiled at him benevolently, “You need only to ask, Loki,” she said softly, “I would have given you an apple for him this time and the last time without you having to lie. He is one of the few deserving mortals I have seen; you owe me nothing for this or the other. I couldn’t have asked for them to go to anyone more deserving. Heimdall has spoken to me of him on occasion, telling me that the apples were not for you, even though I had my suspicions.” She offered the brightly shining golden apple to Loki, “You will know where to find me if you need me again.

He took the apple from Idunn and nodded slightly in thanks, “Do you think you can eat? Eydís and Idunn brought you something,” he murmured, moving to sit up on the bed beside him as the goddess quietly left the three alone.

Tom gave a slight nod and tried to move to sit up, but didn’t quite have enough strength just yet, so Loki gently helped to prop him against his chest, resting his husband’s head on his shoulder and nuzzling his curly hair. “Better?”

The mortal nodded slightly, swallowing as he gazed at the apple in Loki’s hand. This had to work, he wanted this. He wanted this more than anything. He reached shakily for the apple, bringing it to his lips and hesitating for a moment before taking a small bite. Tom could feel the difference this time as warmth flooded through his body, feeling more like an electric current running through him than fire and with each bite, he could feel strength entering his body and he moved with more sure movements as he finished, his entire body feeling more alive than he ever remembered feeling.

He relaxed limply against Loki when he finished, setting the core on the bed and closing his eyes to enjoy the quiet hum of energy rushing through him. It was like nothing he’d ever felt before and Loki must’ve sensed it too, because he felt the god nuzzle his neck, smiling against his skin, “Thank you,” he murmured to both of them, his voice sounding a bit stronger now.

Eydís grinned at her father and hopped on the bed beside them, hugging the both of them tightly, “I knew that everything would work out,” she mumbled.

It was then that Thor entered the room again, but when Loki glanced up, there were no guards and Frigga was standing beside him, smiling at the large god. It turned out that Thor hadn’t wanted to fight with Loki when he was there earlier, but was only angry because of how long he’d gone without telling anyone he was alive. Heimdall had known, but he had only told him that Loki was with a mortal and nothing else.

“I-I’m sorry, Loki,” he managed, unused to apologizing for anything, so the words sounded somewhat forced, but Loki knew they were sincere, “had I known that you had a family… I wouldn’t have been angry with you.” He scuffed his feet absently and Tom smiled a little up at Loki. That was something; Thor was apologizing and from what he knew that probably didn’t happen very often.

It wasn’t until Loki and Tom’s second wedding, this time in Asgard, that Thor spoke to him again, but this time to congratulate him, secretly hoping that having another family that Odin would allow to stay here for the time being would make him ease up on the pranking. Despite the fact that Tom knew almost nothing of the real workings of Asgard, he adjusted quickly with Loki and Eydís, amazed by something new every day.

After things had settled close to a year later, Tom found himself curled in Loki’s arms while Eydís was in the arena, giving Thor a run for his money in combat, “Loki?”

The god kissed Tom’s temple and smiled a little, “Yes, Love,” he tilted his head to the side a little, curious to see what his ever-curious husband would ask about now.

“Thank you,” he replied earnestly, kissing Loki’s cheek.

He frowned at Tom’s words, “For what? I haven’t done anything.”

“For waiting for me,” the blond murmured softly.

“Waiting for you?”

Tom nodded slightly, “When I wasn’t ready to live forever I mean,” he paused for a moment and sighed, “I uh… I was kind of selfish.”

“Of course you weren’t,” Loki chided, “you just weren’t ready yet. I’ll always wait for you.” He smiled a little, nuzzling Tom’s neck. “I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend my life and I wouldn’t change anything if I could.”

Tom blushed a little and grinned, “Good, because sometimes an old man can be slow,” he teased, laughing and then kissing Loki deeply. He couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend his life either and thankfully Loki was patient with him, even when he put him through all that. And he supposed that was what love was: being patient with each other.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is going into a fanfic contest (t12's fanfic contest http://tothetwelve.tumblr.com/post/77943158292/hello-hello-uvu-im-holding-my-first-fanfic ), so I hope that everyone enjoys this! Any constructive criticism or comments would be appreciated~


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